An integrated circuit combines numerous active and passive electrical circuitry elements on a single device called a die or chip. These integrated circuits are interconnected by attaching them to printed circuit boards. Integrated circuits are small and fragile; therefore, for use in mass production they are typically sealed in plastic or ceramic packages, called carriers, in which they are protected from damage. The integrated circuit is electrically interconnected to the external leads or pads that extend from the package. The external leads are used to connect the package to a printed wiring board or a socket. The external leads may protrude from the package by extending through the bottom of the package (e.g., pin or pad grid arrays), may be arrayed along two edges of the package (e.g., dual in-line pins), or may fan out from the edges of the package (e.g., gull wing and J-leads). The carriers are small in size and are known to have high electrical and mechanical reliability.
The wiring on application or parent printed circuit boards include thin metallic signal lines embedded in an insulating material. These signal lines interconnect leads from different circuit packages mounted on the same board. The boards may have several layers of interconnected signal lines to provide all of the required connections. The signal lines route electrical signals among the integrated circuits. The lay out of the signal lines thus determines the placement of the integrated circuit packages on the board. The leads of the integrated circuit packages may connect to the wiring in a variety of ways. One technique includes holes drilled in the board through the wiring at appropriate locations. The leads are inserted through the holes, whereby mechanical and electrical attachments are made among the leads, the wiring, and the holes.
Another technique is called surface mount technology (SMT). This method includes arranging contact pads on the surface of the printed circuit board. The pads are used to route input/output electrical signals through the leads and the appropriate signal lines in the parent printed circuit board. The package leads may be placed on top of the pads and mechanically and electrically attached by soldering. SMT is widely used for high speed digital communications. Typical SMT packages include plastic leaded chip carriers (PLCC), dual in-line packages (DIP), single in-line packages (SIP), small outline packages (SO), and small outline T-leaded packages (SOT). Each device has a different specific footprint associated with its external leads.
FIG. 1 is a generic illustration of a common SMT integrated circuit carrier 10 of the type that is commonly referred to as a Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier, usually abbreviated as PLCC or PCC. The carrier 10 is a rectangular or square package having a housing 12 with a top surface 14 and four sides 16-19 with I/O connections on all four sides. On the leaded version illustrated in FIG. 1, the I/O connections are a row of uniformly spaced electrically conductive leads 20 extending from each side of the carrier housing 12. The PLCC 10 can have 18 to 100 J-shaped leads. PLCC packages can be either socketed or surface-mounted onto solder pads of a printed wiring board 22. Soldering is preferred for applications requiring long term electrical and mechanical reliability.
Over time the design of integrated circuits, or ICs, has improved functionality, which has resulted in smaller devices with fewer I/O connections required to perform the same tasks more efficiently. The carriers, such as the PLCC 10 illustrated in FIG. 1, have evolved to match the more compact and efficient ICs. According to one example, a known IC packaged in a PLCC having 68 I/O pins has become obsolete through having its functionality provided more efficiently in a newer IC that is packaged in a more compact PLCC device having a smaller foot print and fewer I/O connections, i.e., only 44 I/O pins.
New printed wiring board designs reduce the space available to match the more compactly packaged PLCC device and provide 24 fewer surface-mount solder pads in a configuration matched to the device's 44 I/O pins. However, many pre-existing printed wiring board are designed for use with the now obsolete 68-pin device. While a 44-pin PLCC replacement is functionally and conveniently smaller, these earlier designs will not accept the newer 44-lead device. Some high-production boards have been redesigned and re-laid out to accommodate the new smaller devices having fewer I/O connections. Redesign requires considerable time that impacts production schedules and involves financial investments that may not be easily justified on legacy products with a limited future.
Rather than bear the disruption and expense of a redesign, some of these legacy products use an adapter that accommodates the difference in footprints in different PLCC and other SMT components. For example, one of these adapters accepts the smaller 44-pin device and provides electrical routing that adapts the functionality of the 44-pin device to the 68-pin configuration. The smaller 44-pin device is mounted on the adapter, and the adapter is mounted in turn on the parent printed wiring board in the position previously occupied by the 68-pin device. The adapter couples functionality of the replacement 44-pin PLCC device to appropriate connections on the original parent printed wiring board, which are configured to match the foot print and functionality of the original 68-pin PLCC device. For purposes of the specific application, the newer, more efficient 44-pin device performs all the functions of the replaced 68-pin device.
Unfortunately, known adapters for PLCC and other SMT components are limited. Many such adapters provide only pins for insertion directly into sockets on the printed wiring board. However, as discussed above, soldering is preferred to socket insertion for applications requiring long term electrical and mechanical reliability. While other adapters provide for solder joints between the adapter and the printed wiring board, known adapters do not provide for easy visual inspection of the quality of solderjoints. Therefore, the conscientious manufacturer must resort to more laborious and time consuming electrical testing techniques to ensure reliability.